Shoppers hit Jersey City stores in search of Black Friday bargains

4:30 a.m. A light rain hasn't deterred shoppers from surrounding the Best Buy on 18th Street in Jersey City. From laptops to televisions and video games, even the people toward the end of the line, which stretches along three sides of the building say they are confident they will find what they're looking for. Muhammad Ifran arrived at the store at 12:30 p.m. yesterday with Muhammad Usman, both from Brooklyn. Ifran is planning to buy an $800 Sony laptop on sale for $399 and Usman wants new appliances for his home.

4:35 a.m. Anxious shoppers say the store will open in 25 minutes. Close to the front of the line, Allison Jumett waits with her sons Rashan and Jarel. Rashan brought a foldable chair, others in line have umbrellas sheilding themselves from the misting rain. Jummett said her family arrived at 5:15 p.m. from Brooklyn in hopes of getting an LCD television and Sony laptop. "These guys made me do it because they really wanted the television and they saved up," she said noting it's their third time braving the Black Friday crowds. She also noted how calm the crowd as. "I've been other places but this is the best spot."

Melissa Hayes/The Jersey JournalA line of Black Friday shoppers stretches around the Best Buy on 18th Street in Jersey City.

4:40 a.m. Suril Gohel of Jersey City has at least 30 people in front of him in line, but he's cofnident he's getting the HP laptop he came for, Best Buy walked around with "sure shot" vouchers, which means he'll get the laptop once he walks through the door. He's looking to save about $150. "It's a pretty good discount," he said. Gohel said he came to the store last year, but was too far back on the line and missed out on the computer he wanted. He partly blames line cutters. "There should be a number system," he said. But Best Buy employees have been walking the crowd and several Jersey City Police officers are at the head of the line guarding the doors, so things are pretty tame this year.

Just a few people down the line another Jersey City resident, Mingo Nenez, anxiously awaits for the store to open. He's been on line for hours and wants to get a bundle that includes a Nintendo Wii and HDTV for $400.

4:45 a.m. The crowd lets out a small cheer as they are let into the store 15 minutes earlier than expected. Best Buy employees let small batches in at a time and a man wearing a bright yellow shirt yells to the crowd that they must walk slowly into the store and everyone seems to be listening. Around the corner of the store, about halfway into the line, Mohammed Khan, a Jersey City resident attending Rutgers University in New Brunswick, holds a floor map and waits with friends. They've been waiting since late last night. "This is an American tradition," he said adding, "We're veterans actually." Despite being unable to see the door from their position in line, he said they're confident they won't go empty handed. "Laptops and PS3's, you can't go wrong," he said.5 a.m. The line is moving into the store, but new shoppers keep adding to the crowd in search of a good deal.

5:20 a.m. Jersey City Police control traffic and stop cars at Marin Boulevard and Sixth Street to allow pedestrians with arms full of shopping bags cross the road.

5:25 a.m. Newport Centre Mall in Jersey City has only been open for an hour and a half, but already sleepy-eyed shoppers are heading to the parking garage to leave, some with arms loaded with bags, others empty handed.

5:30 a.m. Inside Macy's in Newport Centre Mall, it's crowded but not overwhelmingly so. Just outside the entrance in the mall, Elizabeth Acevedo, a New Yorker, pauses on a bench, alongside her is a cart filled with JC Penney bags. "We do it every year," she said of Black Friday shopping. "I do all my shopping today." Acevedo who was at the mall with a friend who brought an infant, said they may be resting now, but they have lots more to do. "We haven't even started," she said adding that she comes to Newport because she can find all the gifts she needs in one place.

5:35 a.m. Gap is boasting 50 percent off everything in the store until 10 a.m. and Express, across the way, is boasting 40 percent off the entire store until noon. In between them, hangs a huge sign advertising the "decongesters" -- a contest run by Advid, which is launching a new cold medicine. Winners get help beating the crowds at Newport Centre Mall today.

5:37 a.m. While Macy's was bustling, there's no one in the Apple store except for the employees. But not too far away, there's a ling of customers waiting to check out at Kohl's -- maybe it's the Shark floor steamer for more than 50 percent off the retail price. Kohl's is filled with sale signs from 50 percent off sweaters to 60 percent off towels. The early bird special runs from 3 a.m. to 1 p.m. Families even brought their children and have then trying on shoes, it's tough to pass on $70 boots for $19.99.5:45 a.m. Lauren Ladolcetta, a spokeswoman for Advil, which just launched its "congestion relief" formula, explains how the "decongesters" work. Twenty lucky shoppers who texted to enter the competition, will get help navigating the crowds today. From helping find stores, to waiting on line and carrying bags, the 23 "decongesters" (wearing bright yellow jerseys that say "don't let mucus win") will help the lucky shoppers find what they looking for while braving the Black Friday crowds.

5:50 a.m. Normally Frances Bermas, of Jersey City, would be at the mall right now, but she'd be working at JC Penney. Instead she hit the stores at 4 a.m. to take advantage of some sales. Now she's sitting on a bench surrounded by bags of pillows, clothes and shoes waiting for her cousin to finish up and drive her home. "This is my first Black Friday I'm working a night shift," she said. "This is my first time being here this early and buying so many things." And Bermas doesn't have the day off. She'll be reporting back to the mall at 3 p.m. to work the night shift at JC Penney. She's hoping to get a few hours sleep in between. She credits her speedy shopping to having an action plan. "That's why we're doing so early, I knew what I was going to get," she said.

6 a.m. It's still too early for Santa -- shoppers are probably too busy to pose for photos -- but it's never too early for a little music. Santa's Singers are stationed outside Aeropostale singing Christmas carols. Guitarist Dale Stoever said the group traveled from Monmouth County to be at Newporte Centre Mall to start performing a short while ago and they won't be getting to bed anytime soon. They've got another gig at noon. The four members joked that they'll catch up on their sleep in January.

6:10 a.m. Sandra Atkins and her daughter Santrell Atkins were finding plenty of things to buy on sale at the mall this morning. But they've got one problem -- fitting it all in their suitcases when they fly back to Ft. Lauderdale. "I don't know how we're going to get it back home, but we've got it," Sandra Atkins said. The mother and daughter came to New York to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and decided to take advantage of some sales along the way. Santrell Atkins, a college student, found an electric griddle she's wanted on sale for $9. And they're not done shopping, they plan to head back to Manhattan once they're done at the mall.

6:30 a.m. While boxes of pots and pans, clothing and electronics are flying off the shelves there's one even hotter item -- coffee. Workers at Gloria Jean's Coffees said they reported to work at 2 a.m. in anticipation of a very busy morning. While there wasn't much of a line a moment ago, it's probably because the staff is moving customers through so efficiently.

9 a.m. Paul Bovell, of Bayonne, has been waiting in line for about 20 minutes outside the Sixth Avenue Electronics at Hudson Mall on Route 440 in Jersey City. He's hoping to score the Samsung LCD high-definition television featured in the store circular. Asked if it was worth it to brave the crowds he said, "Yeah, once oyu get a good deal."

9:10 a.m. Victoria Washington and her sister Geraldine Perkins, of Jersey City, join the growing line outside Sixth Avenue Electronics after leaving PC Richards across the parking lot. "I'm looking for a DVD and VCR combination that they had advertised, very cheap, $69 — you can’t beat that,” she said adding it’s her first time shopping on Black Friday. The siblings left PC Richards after realizing Sixth Avenue had a lower sale price.

9:15 a.m. Peter Abdelmalik Zaky and his younger brother Andrew hold Toys R Us bags as their parents load a television and stand into a cab so they can go back to Staten Island.

9:20 a.m. Anton Mekhael, of Bayonne, walks out of Sixth Avenue Electronics with his boxes piled in his arms. He was in the market for laptops and a digital camera and also snagged a vacuum on sale. He said the laptops were about 30 percent off the regular price. “It wasn’t that much,” he said of the discount. “I expected laptops to be lower.”

9:30 a.m. Victor Martinez and his son Victor Martinez Jr., of Staten Island, walk out of the store carrying a large LED television box. They said it was just the item they were looking for. At $450, it was too good a deal to stay home for.

9:40 a.m. If you’re looking to beat the crowds, Hudson Mall is the place to be. There’s no line at PC Richards or Old Navy and the shops in side the mall are pretty quite too. Mall Office Manager Lorma Webner mans a table at the main entrance where shoppers can get coupons and enter a raffle for a free gift basket, which will be given away at 10 a.m. Webner and the other workers arrived at 4:45 a.m. to a much different scene. “There was a big crowd out there,” she said adding that there were long lines at all the big box stores. Office staff have been giving away coffee, water and soda, but they’re about to pack up the table.

9:45 a.m. Sisters Terresa Dukhi, Amanda Rampersaud, Shall Bhola and Melissa Phillips walk down the quite mall hallway. Dukhi said she came out looking for good sales, but isn’t that impressed. “It’s not like last year,” she said. Rampersaud said she’s just happy to spend the day with her siblings.

10:15 a.m. Jocelyne Leal-Romero, of Clifton, carefully pushes a cart with a large flat screen television in it out of the Target on Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen. “It was the last one,” she said. She only arrived at the store at 10 a.m. and employees told her the televisions were gone, but she found one on the side that hadn’t yet been returned to stock. Leal-Romero said she and her husband having been eyeing a new television . “We’re giving it to ourselves,” she said. She travelled to the North Bergen store because it’s in an Urban Enterprise Zone, which means there’s only 3.5 percent sales tax.

10:30 a.m. West New York resident Sheila Matos pushes a large pallet out of the store and calls a cab. She bought a Casio piano, valued at more than $100, for $59 on sale, an artificial Christmas tree, a mixer and a bunch of gifts. The television she wanted was sold out. “I was not going to spend a lot of money, but I did,” she says looking at all the bags. While Matos, who works at the store and will be back in a few hours to work, she couldn’t resist a little shopping. “It’s the sales,” she said. “You get good deals, always.”